Picking the right childcare centre
The building blocks of a bright future are laid in early childhood, which is why finding the right childcare centre is such an important and daunting task.
There are 518 services across Queensland which are exceeding the National Quality Standard set by the Government.
Wynnum Family Day Care is among these top childcare providers and one of just eight in Queensland with an excellent rating.
“We've had parents crying, absolutely crying on the phone because we can't give them care,” said Kathy Beverige from Wynnum Family Day Care.
“We have a learning support coordinator, we have an OT, a speech therapist,” she added.
For every service like this, there are nearly 50 not making the grade. That is 396 centres across Queensland that need to do more.
Of the 2764 childcare centres in Queensland just under half (1317) are still waiting to be assessed and there is no indication of when this will happen.
According to experts this means that good centres are not being acknowledged and that rogue operators may not be being held to account at a time when demand for childcare is increasing.
Megan Bock from Playgroup Queensland said there had been a decline in membership.
“We are actually seeing a bit of decline in our membership and we think a lot of that is due to parents heading back to work sooner,” she said.
Mother Lauren Oldhan said it was difficult to part with her son Ted who is nearly two and goes to playgroup as well as childcare.
“It was very hard to hand him over and I guess that is why it is important to take your time to research,” she said.
But with no efficient national standard, parents have been left playing roulette when it comes to picking the best childcare centre.
“Well the centres that haven't been assessed really are starting to get anxious that they are not assessed,” said childcare expert Gwynn Bridge.
The Australian Childcare Alliance is lobbying the Federal Government to overhaul the system that has been in place for the past three years.
“Without good educators we don’t have quality and the last thing we want is educators who are feeling burden by the paperwork and leaving the sector,” Ms Bridge said.
Until then we are leaving our most vulnerable at the greatest risk.
“We don't want that to happen to our children absolutely not for our children,” said Ms Beverige from Wynnum Family Day Care.
For more information:
